For the young and the young at heart (PHOTOS)

Raiden Purdy, 4, uses a radio controller to run one of the trains at the Miracle Strip Model Railroad Club's display at Uptown Station on Sunday.

DEVON RAVINE / Daily News

By LAUREN SAGE REINLIE / Daily News

Published: Sunday, December 22, 2013 at 08:57 PM.

FORT WALTON BEACH — In a vacant storefront in Uptown Station, 72-year-old Ray Follacchio is trying to keep an old tradition alive.

The hobby of building model railroads has been around for more than 100 years. Follacchio said he has been doing it since the 1940s when he was 5 years old.

“In order for it to carry on you have to teach the young ones,” he said.

On Sunday, children sidled up to Follacchio and climbed onto stools to watch a handful of model trains whir around the tracks. They gripped wireless controls and — with guidance — made the trains speed up, racing through miniature mountains and forests, tiny bustling towns and sleepy villages.

“He’s going to go in the station now,” 4-year-old Raiden Purdy said excitedly about a passenger train. “This is pretty cool.”

The boy’s father, Ryan Purdy, 27, brought him to the exhibit put on by the Miracle Strip Model Railroad Club in Shalimar.

“He likes anything that moves,” he said.

The young boy didn’t have a model train of his own, but would in a few days, although he didn’t know it yet, Purdy said.

Follacchio, the club’s president, said he especially enjoys building the intricate scenery.

Model sets that include houses can be purchased and assembled. Follacchio takes it further by hand-furnishing the inside of the buildings using scraps of what basically is junk.

He showed an example of one building that had been turned into a tiny post office.

He said children can learn a lot from model railroads and for adults, it’s just fun.

“It’s not just a matter of slapping a track down. The track has to be done right, the scenery has to be done. It’s model building as well as electronics, each train has a microchip,” he said.

“We get a lot of pleasure out of it, building and putting everything together to show people how things are done — especially for the kids.”

WANT TO GO?

The display located near Radio Shack in Uptown Station is open 2 to 9 p.m. on Monday and noon to 9 p.m. on Christmas Eve. The club also has a static display at 1255A Eglin Parkway in Shalimar open on Thursday nights and Saturday mornings year-round.

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FORT WALTON BEACH — In a vacant storefront in Uptown Station, 72-year-old Ray Follacchio is trying to keep an old tradition alive.

The hobby of building model railroads has been around for more than 100 years. Follacchio said he has been doing it since the 1940s when he was 5 years old.

“In order for it to carry on you have to teach the young ones,” he said.

On Sunday, children sidled up to Follacchio and climbed onto stools to watch a handful of model trains whir around the tracks. They gripped wireless controls and — with guidance — made the trains speed up, racing through miniature mountains and forests, tiny bustling towns and sleepy villages.

“He’s going to go in the station now,” 4-year-old Raiden Purdy said excitedly about a passenger train. “This is pretty cool.”

The boy’s father, Ryan Purdy, 27, brought him to the exhibit put on by the Miracle Strip Model Railroad Club in Shalimar.

“He likes anything that moves,” he said.

The young boy didn’t have a model train of his own, but would in a few days, although he didn’t know it yet, Purdy said.

Follacchio, the club’s president, said he especially enjoys building the intricate scenery.

Model sets that include houses can be purchased and assembled. Follacchio takes it further by hand-furnishing the inside of the buildings using scraps of what basically is junk.

He showed an example of one building that had been turned into a tiny post office.

He said children can learn a lot from model railroads and for adults, it’s just fun.

“It’s not just a matter of slapping a track down. The track has to be done right, the scenery has to be done. It’s model building as well as electronics, each train has a microchip,” he said.

“We get a lot of pleasure out of it, building and putting everything together to show people how things are done — especially for the kids.”

WANT TO GO?

The display located near Radio Shack in Uptown Station is open 2 to 9 p.m. on Monday and noon to 9 p.m. on Christmas Eve. The club also has a static display at 1255A Eglin Parkway in Shalimar open on Thursday nights and Saturday mornings year-round.